SUP surfers cross the English Channel to set World Record

June 28, 2010 |Surfing

Four of the UK’s best Stand Up Paddle-boarders have just set a new World record for crossing the English Channel. With a relay team and a solo paddler taking on the challenge together to support Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) campaigns, the conditions were great for the 21-mile crossing with light winds and the sun shining, and we are delighted to claim a brand-new World record.

As the first ever relay SUP team to attempt the famous crossing, we are confident that the riders have set an outstanding benchmark World record of 5 hours and 38 minutes.

The relay team included 2009 UK stand up paddleboarding champion Jock Patterson, Matt Argyle, Chairman of the British Stand Up Paddle Association (BSUPA) and ranked 2nd in the UK for stand up paddle boarding, and Simon Bassett, BSUPA head coach.

Welsh longboarding champion Elliot Dudley, who is also SAS’s South Wales Representative, set a magnificent solo time of 5 hours and 38 minutes, which may also stand as a new World-record, it being the first ever official solo Channel crossing by SUP.

Stand-up paddleboarding has become extremely popular amongst recreational water users across the UK and this will be the first official attempt of its kind. The current record was set by a prone paddleboarder, the USA’s Michael O’Shaughnessy in 2006 in 5 hours and 9 minutes.

The event was organised by SAS with the support of BSUPA, and the paddlers raised almost £10,000 in sponsorship money to support SASs campaigns to protect surfers, waveriders, waves and beaches around the UK.

Hugo Tagholm, SAS’s Executive Director, says: “I am thrilled that the riders have completed this massive challenge in support of SAS’s ongoing campaigns to protect the UK’s beaches and seas for all to enjoy. Well done to them all for setting such fantastic new World-records, which we hope the Guinness Book of Records will endorse as soon as possible. I’d like to say a massive thank you to the riders for all their efforts and for contributing so much to our campaigns against marine pollution.”